On the Seven Towers

"No?" Selinda put her hands on her waist and narrowed her eyes at Xiao Chen, waiting for him to give an explanation.

"I can't break my promise to those slaves. I told them that as long as they follow me, they can have a better life and become free citizens in a few years. If I resell them now, then I will violate my own words. If so, I have to be responsible for them!" Xiao Chen said.

"Are you kidding? When did a lord, a magician, have to be responsible for some slaves?" Selinda's voice immediately became louder. She was not a lady, otherwise she would not have run away from home and joined the enemy. camp. So Xiao Chen's words made her angry. She felt that she had been tricked. Her anger was not because the other party did not sell her slave, but because the other party used such nonsense reasons to prevaricate her. This is simply treating people like fools.

"This is not a joke. If I have no credibility, why should they listen to me? If I have no credibility, why should others believe what I say in the future?"

"Credit? Who rules with credit? Strength is the foundation of rule! Aren't these slaves succumbing to your sword and magic? If you are not willing to give me slaves, why do you say such nonsense?" Selinda argued At that time, he was not as cute as when he was pretending to be a village girl. He was clearly a powerful knight.

"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Selinda, Xiao Chen is definitely not trying to prevaricate you. He must have his own ideas. Please listen to his explanation." Li Jia grabbed her and put his hand on her shoulder, as if he was trying to say nice things. Seemingly, Selinda glared at him, stopped talking, and listened to Xiao Chen's explanation.

When Xiao Chen saw Li Jia's look, he knew that he was defeated by Selinda. He sighed and said, "Of course force is very important. There is a saying from the founding leader of the country in my hometown, 'What comes out of the barrel of a gun. regime.'"

"regime?"

"You should understand it as the group of people who rule."

"That's a good statement. It clearly summarizes what I want to say. But I prefer to use a sword." Selinda nodded in agreement.

"Why can political power come out of the barrel of a gun? Not only because you can destroy your enemies, but more importantly, you can protect your subjects. Why do your subjects pay you taxes? It is also because they believe that you can Protect them from thieves, beasts and other lords, and if you want them to believe that you can do this, you must keep your word. Otherwise, a lord who usually doesn't keep his word can really be counted on to protect everyone in critical moments. ”

Selinda was silent for a while and asked: "Do you think the farmers in Montenegro who resist taxes also do not trust the Arias family?"

"At least you have increased taxes indiscriminately, failed to abide by the original agreement, and pushed everyone to the limit of tolerance."

"But if you didn't show up, these farmers would have been easily suppressed. They would eventually hand over the food and be taught a lesson. What does this have to do with whether they believe in us or not?"

"If we don't succeed this time, there will be another riot." Xiao Chen affirmed.

Selinda showed a disdainful smile, "Just like them, the riots have been suppressed many times. With the sword on their side, how many people will choose to resist to the end? How many people will surrender and accept their fate? No need for me. Say more?"

"This... this seems a bit too rough." Li Jia whispered.

"Rough? From south to north, from west to east, which lord is not like this? If someone really does something based on the faces of the people, his lord will not have to do it anymore. Such a weak thing will not be overthrown by those unruly people. , will also be sent to the gallows by the lord next door."

"Isn't it good to be kind?" Li Jia's voice became even lower.

"Kindness is like a little honey on barbecue. If you don't have a knife to kill a cow, how can you put honey on it! Master Xiao Chen, you are not really going to treat those slaves like this, are you? If so, I really have to seriously consider cooperating with you. It's worth it." Selinda looked stern, not joking at all.

Xiao Chen suddenly realized that he had made a mistake. All his ideas and views, whether socialist or capitalist, came from the era after the Industrial Revolution. At that time, the feudal aristocratic system had long since collapsed, and people were The relationship has changed dramatically. The count's daughter in front of her was a serious feudal noble. If such a great noble could easily accept his ideas, there would be no French Revolution.

Selinda's kingdom and territory are not modern countries. Selinda's nobles and subjects, not politicians and citizens. Therefore, the previous words are almost the same as those of chickens and ducks. Xiao Chen thought for a while and said: "It is useless to talk more now. We have already discussed the territory matter, and it can be solved in other ways. We all have money, technology, and commodities. As for slaves, I can give in, you You can set out your conditions and ask in the camp. If you want to go with you, you can take them with you."

Selinda knew that the conditions she would give to the slave would definitely be far less than Xiao Chen's promise. Those untouchables are not fools, who would follow her? She snorted coldly and said, "Let's just drop this matter and pretend I didn't mention anything."

After saying this, she went on her own, and Li Jia followed in a hurry.

"Li Jia, this guy is going to suffer a lot in the future!" Xiao Chen said to himself as he watched the two of them walking one after another. However, he immediately became a little worried. As a lord, this is the concept, but what about these slaves? Will their thoughts become even more unbearable, and will they be completely unable to fit into the framework designed by earthlings like them?

He touched his chin and stood there thinking hard. But suddenly he found a figure wearing a robe appearing in front of him.

It turned out to be Luo Ling.

"Did you hear everything?"

Luo Ling nodded and said with a smile: "You talked about the social contract with the feudal landowners. She is very worthy of you for not hunting you down."

"Oh, now I realize how difficult our road is. How incompatible we are with this world. Now I have some doubts whether we can really place these slaves. What if these people can't adapt to our arrangements at all? ? Do we really want to treat them like those lords?"

"It's actually a very simple thing. Productivity determines production relations. With people like these in the school here, what are you afraid of?"

"Productivity? I've been saying this every year since middle school, and I feel calluses from hearing it."

"Novel words may be fallacies, and old-fashioned words may be truth! Can you think about what these words mean in today's situation?"

Xiao Chen thought about it carefully and seemed to have some taste. He analyzed: "You are saying that the productivity here is insufficient, so we can only use slaves and serfs to deal with production relations. And because our school has technology and ideas, , if the same people are used by me, the productivity will be much higher than that of these feudal lords? So, our production relations don’t have to be like that at all?”

"Isn't it? We have agricultural technology and better farm tools for farming. We have factory management systems and better equipment for workmanship. We have systematic operating procedures and better weapons for the army. Our goods are very popular and can Sell ​​it at a high price and let them manage and train these people more effectively, no matter what era they come from, they will not be fools as long as their own interests are involved. Why don’t they aspire to a better place? Why don’t they support a better government?”

"Yes, that's it! They'll be on our side, just like those in Floro Town!"

"Xiao Chen, don't underestimate the power of production relations. The small society of the school is just a microcosm of modern society. Even so, the power it unleashes is not something that ancient society can compete with. So, why do you need to explain to her today? So many things are done, not defended. When she sees that you have turned these slaves into farmers, workers, soldiers, and even engineers, doctors, teachers and judges, she is still qualified. Do you argue?"

For some reason, Xiao Chen was suddenly moved when he heard Luo Ling say this. There is something called an ideal that sprouts in my heart. He nodded and said: "Yes, I can't let them down. We should be able to bring some changes here. If we don't change this place, then we will be changed by them."

"That would be a tragedy! As modern people, when we come to this place, we must have our own persistence. Although our world has not yet found a perfect system, the handling of many things is undoubtedly more civilized and tolerant than the society here Much more, and most people's lives are much happier. Our moral bottom line is different from Selinda's. Although sometimes we have to break through our own bottom line in order to survive, if we don't even have our own values. If we give up, what will we have left? Are the only connections we have with that world are a few shabby houses and tattered clothes?" Luo Ling said in a low voice.

Old world, old world.

The memory of the old world is both a care and a burden.

Maybe it’s because men’s nerves are rougher. Xiao Chen didn’t have much sympathy in this regard, but he thought of all the things that happened in the slave camp. Now that he thought about it, the taste was a little different: “This incident of dealing with slaves made me feel a little different. I have the opportunity to face some choices, and I think I have not embarrassed us. I understand now that there are many things. If just because the feudal lords around us do this and those mercenary military leaders do that, we will be complicit. If we compromise with them, we are really lost. I don’t want to be a slave, so I don’t want to be a slave owner either!”

"What if the people around you don't want you to do this?"

"Then try to change them, and if that doesn't work, then fight."

"If you understand, then I want to remind you one thing. When dealing with these nobles in the future, you don't have to plan to stay with them forever. Everything is to give us a temporary stable environment, so that we can The world slowly grows up. When it matures..." Luo Ling looked up and showed a sneer.